According to the Israeli Magazine +972, “Israeli authorities have arrested hundreds of Palestinian minors since the latest uprising began in the start of October. They have been sent to four different facilitates run by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) on both sides of the Green Line.”

To reduce overcrowding of children at existing prisons, the government opened a new temporary wing for minors at the Givon prison. Until that time, Givon only housed “light” criminal offenders with sentences under five years, including asylum seekers and Palestinians who entered Israel without the proper permits. Approximately, 60 minors were being held at Givon as of November, 2015.

+972 reports, “Lawyers from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) met with a number of Palestinian minors being held in Givon, none of whom had criminal records, some of whom were just 14 years old and stood accused of various crimes. They said they were being held in small cells, two meters by one meter, three boys to a cell. Some of them still hadn’t seen any of their family members since their arrests several weeks ago.”

The Electronic Intifada interviewed lawyers with the PCATI and Defense for Children International. According to lawyers, there have been reports of physical violence against children that may constitute torture under international law.